Stuck in the Middle Ground?

There are two high points for most Christians – when they first enter the family and then when they graduate into Heaven. What a Christian experiences in between is the often unexpected Middle Ground.

This Middle Ground is a series of peaks and valleys, and some of those valleys are very dark, with rock faces hindering progress. There are seasons of spiritual celebration and periods of dryness and suffering. During this pilgrimage, one is transformed into the likeness of Jesus as the desires of the Spirit tackle the engrained desires and habits of the flesh, His brilliant surgical light exposing the influence of man’s depravity in every thought and action. (1 John 1:5 & Galatians 5:17)

This Middle Ground is where we experience God’s sovereignty to work all tragedy and pain together for our good (Romans 8:28). The “refiner’s fire” one faces here exposes doubts, questions, and fears which may eventually be countered by Holy Spirit spawned confidence, assurance, and security. Randall Arthur summarized it this way:

Most if not all the true wisdom of God, the true insight of God, and the true knowledge of God that a man holds in his heart he has learned from resistance and affliction.

Resistance makes a man think new thoughts he never thought before. It makes a man ask questions he never asked before. It makes a man seek answers he never sought before. It makes a man beg God for help that he never before realized he needed. These quests, quests of the heart and soul, eventually make a man deeper, wider, taller. (The Wisdom Hunter)

This journey through the Middle Ground increasingly intertwines a Christian with the Triune Yahweh until that day when “we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13 NASB) “Hallelujah!

For many, this first high point, when one makes the pledge to go God’s way and invites Him into their life, it may be like a warm Spring day after a dark, bitterly cold winter. Forgiveness and the freedom from guilt enveloped into the warmth of being welcomed into the family tends to sweep up a new Christian’s soul to dance around in a glorious garden. Ecstatic to be loved, one hungers to develop this new relationship with the Father, a yearning to experience His presence. Each day brings more discoveries showcasing Father’s creativity - unusual parrot tulips, lilies of deep reds to sparkling white, a kaleidoscope of gladiolas. What an imaginative creator! And those sins and fears that landed one in the pit, well, they are now a distant memory. This Christian life, one concludes, will be a wonderful life.

Then comes the cooling evening when the bliss of being chosen by God fades into mundane life. Bills. Chores. Taxes. Relationships. Jobs. The lush garden is replaced with beautiful potted plants scattered around a vast dump. The festive fellowship of other Christians devolves into cliques of those in similar stages of life or with similar interests; or those who just don’t fit anywhere. This is now the Middle Ground where 3 distinct mindsets are evident among the travelers.

There are many who deny the necessity of traversing the Middle Ground and are frantically seeking the wrong turn they must have taken, the decision that took them away from that festivity. They just have to return to that paradise where they once romped among the blossoms. Heaven on earth cannot be THIS difficult and challenging.

Others are disillusioned and just plop down. They question if their experience was anything more than a deception by a hypocritical community that temporarily overwhelmed their emptiness. Is life more than this spot in the wastelands? Isn’t there more to life than wandering in circles until death?

Still others have accepted the necessity of traversing the Middle Ground. Together, they are refreshed at parties on the peaks. Throughout their ups and downs, “considering others as more important” (Philippians 2:3), they serve their fellow pilgrims who also are endeavoring to persevere through the heartache and set-backs. Together, comrades-in-arms, they push forward to that day when the Middle Ground erupts into Heaven.

Are you in the Middle Ground yet? Which of these 3 mindsets do you have?

In the Middle Ground, everyone struggles and fails, sometimes even doing a full cowpie faceplant. The mistake of many who have fallen is they rebuff the help offered by another they may consider a hypocrite. Instead, they choose to hide, alone in the safe obscurity of the shadows. Although safe from judgmental pilgrims, this is absurd.

Recognizing one’s hypocrisy occurs as the Spirit assaults the desires and habits of the flesh. As depraved individuals, we have a phenomenal ability to rationalize how we are NOT being hypocritical in actions such as loving one another, unity, forgiving one another, and serving one another. But others see through our ration-of-lies.

Although we believe there are just a few blind spots in our vision, we actually have vision spots amidst our blindness. Others see the hypocrisy our vision spots don’t divulge. 1 John 1:10 poignantly states: “If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”

Although none of us have it all together, we each have various strengths and experiences - our vision spots. Acknowledging one’s blindness and being willing to let other’s vision spots clarify one’s blindness is a way the Spirit overcomes the desires and habits of the delusional flesh.

Thus, don’t be intimidated by those who seem to “have it all together.” Their clothes may be tailored and spotless, but they hide well the scars from the “refiner’s fire” they have endured. Instead of being safe and alone in the shadows, take a risk and ask them for help. You may be surprised by their understanding and willingness to coach you for a while. And, by the camaraderie of fellow warriors.

My friend, the first garden brands us with a hope for the final celebration in Heaven. But the Middle Ground tends to be where the Spirit is teaching us how to put off the old habits of the flesh and to put on Christ. It is not an easy pilgrimage and, in some valleys, those beautiful potted plants are scarce. But persevering through the Middle Ground is the process whereby each of us wins “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Therefore, “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV

Endeavoring, and sometimes succeeding, to Practice His Presence,